188 General Notes. [February, 
PSYCHOLOGY. 
Sir J. LUBBOCK ON THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE Doc.—Before a 
crowded sitting of the biological section of the British Association, 
Sir John Lubbock read a paper in which he gave some interesting 
notes on the intelligence of the dog. The man and the dog, he 
said, have lived together in more or less intimate association for 
many thousands of years, and yet it must be confessed that they 
know comparatively little of one another. That the dog is a loyal, 
true, and affectionate friend must be gratefully admitted, but when 
we come to consider the psychical nature of the animal, the limits 
of our knowledge are almost immediately reached. I have else- 
where suggested that this arises very much from the fact that 
hitherto we have tried to teach animals rather than to learn from 
them—to convey our ideas to them rather than to devise any lan- 
guage or code of signals by means of which they might commu- 
nicate theirs to us. The former may be more important from a 
utilitarian point of view, though even this is questionable, but psy- 
chologically it is far less interesting. Under these circumstances, 
it occured to me whether some such system as that followed with 
deaf-mutes, and especially by Dr. Howe with Laura Bridgman, 
might not prove very instructive if adapted to the case of dogs. 
I have tried this in a small way with a black poodle named Van. » 
I took two pieces of card-board, about ten inches by three inches, 
and on one of them printed in large letters the word “ food,” leav- 
ing the other blank. I then placed two cards over two saucers, 
and in the one under the “food” card put a little bread and milk 
which Van, after having his attention called to the card, was allowed 
to eat. This was repeated over and over again till he had had 
enough. In about ten days he began to distinguish between the 
two cards. I then put them on the floor and made him bring 
them to me, which he did readily enough, When he brought the 
plain card I simply threw it back, while when he brought the 
“food” card I gave him a piece of bread, and in about a month 
he had pretty well learned to realize the difference. I then had 
some other cards printed with the words “ out,” “ tea,” “ bone,” 
“ water,” spelt phonetically so as not to trouble him by our intri- 
cate spelling, and a certain number also with words to which I 
